Inquisition
Church's heresy hunters
The Inquisition was a system of tribunals established by the Catholic Church to identify and punish heresy, most notoriously active in medieval and early modern Europe.
The Spanish Inquisition became synonymous with ruthless persecution, torture, and execution.
References to the Inquisition often invoke religious intolerance or zealous persecution: Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition. (Lowercase inquisition is any harsh interrogation.)
Judicial decision-making body
- auto-da-féInquisition execution ritual
- heresyBelief opposing official doctrine
- tortureDeliberate infliction of suffering
- confessionAdmission of wrongdoing
persecution · interrogation · trial · ecclesiastical · papal · medieval · edict · jurisdiction
Notorious Spanish religious enforcer
Renaissance astronomer from Italy
- Counter-ReformationChurch's internal reform movement
- BrunoItalian masculine name
- censorshipOfficial content restriction
- imprimaturOfficial sanction to publish
Politically-motivated accusation without evidence
- purgeEliminate unwanted elements
- blacklistRecord of prohibited entities
- scapegoatingUnfairly assigning fault to innocents
- repressionUnconscious blocking of thoughts
suppression · crusade · zealotry · fanaticism
tribunal
Judicial decision-making body
- auto-da-féInquisition execution ritual
- heresyBelief opposing official doctrine
- tortureDeliberate infliction of suffering
confession · persecution · interrogation · trial · ecclesiastical · papal · medieval · edict · jurisdiction · denouncement
Torquemada
Notorious Spanish religious enforcer
Seville · Toledo · familiar · Reconquista
Galileo
Renaissance astronomer from Italy
- Counter-ReformationChurch's internal reform movement
- BrunoItalian masculine name
- censorshipOfficial content restriction
imprimatur · heliocentrism · papal · doctrine
McCarthyism
Politically-motivated accusation without evidence
- purgeEliminate unwanted elements
- blacklistRecord of prohibited entities
- scapegoatingUnfairly assigning fault to innocents
repression · suppression · crusade · zealotry · fanaticism
- Medieval JewryAshkenazi, Sephardim, yeshiva, expulsion, ghetto
- Philip IIPhilip II, Spanish Armada, Armada, Battle of Lepanto, Alba
- medievalknights, castles, cathedral, kings, queens
- Middle AgesMiddle Ages, medieval period, castles, knights, Dark Ages
- church historychurch history, apostles, Protestant Reformation, Christian history, baptism
- Early ModernRenaissance, 1500s, 1600s, Reformation, sixteenth century
Inquisitionreligious tolerance
Acceptance of differing faiths
religious freedom · ecumenism · pluralism · interfaith dialogue · Edict of Nantes
Inquisitiondue process
Guaranteed judicial fairness
fair trial · presumption of innocence · habeas corpus · rule of law · defendant's rights
Inquisitionseparation of church and state
Constitutional religious neutrality principle
- Spanish InquisitionChurch court hunting heretics
- Roman InquisitionCatholic Church's heresy-hunting institution